Feeding Habits of the African Dwarf Frog

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Grymatta

Large Fish
#1
May 16, 2005
439
0
0
#1
So I got one about a week ago and I have yet to see it eat something. Most of the time its hidden amongst my plants. Its in a tank with some tetras and shrimp.

I feed my fish a diet of bloodworms, brine shrimp, pellets, and flakes during the week.

do I need to feed the frog a special diet? Or can I assume that hes scavenging food when I'm not looking?

He seems pretty healthy on the rare occassions when he shows himself though..
 

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Steph_D

Large Fish
#5
Feb 27, 2006
123
0
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Noel, MO, extreme SW corner of the state
#5
I had my first ADF with my guppies and she would never come out to feed (I was stupidly told that she'd eat the tropical flakes). She nearly starved to death before I noticed so I moved her to her own little 1 gallon tank to get her back to good health and started feeding her the frog bites from Petsmart. She's now in a community tank eating frozen blood worms and does well, but I purposely overfeed so that the frogs will be sure to get some of the food. I'm constantly watching to make sure that they're not losing weight but so far they look good.

BTW, all of the food that falls to the bottom is usually gone within an hour or two, thanks to the 3 ADF's and 5 ghost shrimp:D
 

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crissy7399

Large Fish
#7
Mar 9, 2006
158
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0
OOOOOOOOOklahoma- not from here though.
#7
I do the turkey baster thing with frozen brine shrimp, and I practically stick the end on their faces and as slow as possible let the shrimp out and they'll eat it with their faces practically inside the end of the baster.

If I don't do that, all the fish will go after it and they just sit there like their clueless!

Have you read leapardess' post? it's very insightfull! http://myfishtank.net/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=23215

She mentions making sure their tummies look round and full.

sadly she recommended that I not have the frogs, we have a 46 gal with fish, so when we fully stock our tank it will be pretty difficult to be sure they are fed properly.
 

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Grymatta

Large Fish
#8
May 16, 2005
439
0
0
#8
thanks for all the advice guys.

yes, I read the leopardess' post and it was insightful.

I tried to feed my ADF with freeze dried Bloodworms using a tweezer. I put the morsel in front of its face and it totally ignored it!

However, I dropped in an algae tablet for my otto catfish and I noticed that the frog was eating bits of it. It was strange to see him attack and strike at the tablet and gobble down bits of it. I thought ADF's are carnivorous?

I'm debating if I should get some sinking shrimp pellets or similar because the frog always stays on the bottom of the tank and cant get to the flakes/brine shrimp/worms before the fish do.

Any other suggestions? Its been about a week now since I got it and I'm not sure if its eating right...

help!
 

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crissy7399

Large Fish
#9
Mar 9, 2006
158
0
0
OOOOOOOOOklahoma- not from here though.
#9
I also tried the freeze dried and they didn't want any part of it. Plus the fact the freeze dried just sticks to everything and it's annoying in my opinion. I would just use the frozen foods, their more nutritious anyways.

That's curious about the algae tablet... I might have to do that too because the new otos I just got, I don't think are eating my algae- myaybe wrong kind of algae? so I'm not sure their getting anything to eat. Maybe I can "kill two birds with one stone" and feed the frogs and otos with an algae tablet?!?. We'll need to see if that's a good nutrition source for the frogs, they may still need some "meat" in their diet.
 

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Grymatta

Large Fish
#10
May 16, 2005
439
0
0
#10
I brought some Hikari Carnivore sinking pellets and one of my frogs was eating it. They are designed for carnivore fish and contain krill, shrimp, fish, and other meaty ingredients. The frog liked it so much he even fought off my betta when it came near.

I've never used frozen food before...I'm curious..do you need to put a chunk of it in a bowl to defrost first? Is it messy to use? Does it sink or float? I wanna try it but not sure if my roomies will like having frozen mosquito larvae next to their kosher meats and ice cream...

thanks
 

homebunnyj

homebunnyj

Superstar Fish
#11
Jul 13, 2005
1,299
4
0
Western NC
#11
The frog was possibly pretty desperate when he found the algae tablet; at least you know if he finds something edible he will eat....
I doubt that freeze-dried foods have much smell to them compared to fresh or even frozen.
The frozen food comes in cubes in a bubble pack with foil over each cube. (Completely sanitary, no chance of contact with roomies' frozen goodies.) You pop one out and thaw it. I put it in a tablespoon measure and add some tank water. After a few minutes I come back and poke at it with the turkey baster to break up the cube a little. A few moments later it is thawed.
 

G

Grymatta

Large Fish
#12
May 16, 2005
439
0
0
#12
homebunny..

thanks for the info. I think im gonna get some frozen worms and try the turkey baster method. These frogs are pretty blind and their sense of smell aint so good either..
 

Timbo

Timbo

Large Fish
#13
Jun 21, 2005
129
0
0
71
Nottingham UK
#13
Freeze dried can cause digestive probs... Firstly if you have another tank I would put the tetras in it. as fish will out compete frogs to food (I have a single Betta with my five and it appears to work). Live food is no:1 they will eat any bought (Blood worm are a favorite) or home raised (Daphnia are so easy it's hard not to succeed). Frozen are also very good and bloodworm again score tops. your main prob is that Tetras are fast moving aggressive feeders and will quite happily munch away on the same food as the frog, before the frog gets into gear... Over feeding will help and may even succeed, But remember to remove any leftovers and do VERY regular water changes as the detritus will rot and your bug and nitrate levels will rocket..
 

G

Grymatta

Large Fish
#15
May 16, 2005
439
0
0
#15
well i brought a turkey baster and some frozen bloodworms from the San Francisco Brand..they come in these gumdrop sizes.

My African frog in the tetra tank ate one and ignored the rest. Granted the one worm was longer than it was, but he doesnt seem interested in the rest.

Strangely enough, all my tetras and shrimps are ignoring the leftover defrosted bloodworms. Has anyone experienced this? The tetras love the freeze dried bloodworms but seem to be ignoring the frozen ones. Does this make sense?

Well..at least I managed to feed my frog one worm...

my two frogs in the betta tank totally igored the bloodworms as well. They prefer the sinking carnivore tablets that I got from Hikari.

strange...
 

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